Red's Depression
by oyasumikoneko666
Summary: Redcentric. The title says almost everything....IZ belongs to Jhonen Vasquez....I don't own a thing...R&R!Contains psychological and physical violence...AN deleted, don't think anyone cares or minds...


_**"Red's Depression"**_

Red was walking around the Massive's long corridors, inside a section that could have been used as living quarters…he really didn't walk in any direction in particular, he reclined upon the hand-rail and peered downwards, there wasn't anyone down there, it seemed as if that section of the Massive was always devoid of people with the only exceptions of Purple and him, even if Irkens didn't have the need to sleep, the Tallest were like a completely different thing, apparently they were lazy enough to develop a somehow regular sleep cycle…and Red had found himself breaking that cycle quite a bit lately…

He sighed, somehow realizing that just standing there completely motionless wouldn't do anything to improve his mood, Red didn't seem to have ever even dealt with something remotely akin to depression and it was obvious he didn't know how to deal with it just right then, he pulled off of the hand-rail and began to idly walk down the hanging corridor again…

"Hey! What are you doing up??"

He came to a sudden halt, he half-turned to peer behind him, to see the owner of that hideously familiar voice…

"What are YOU doing up??"

He gave Purple a crooked smile, crossing his own arms, Purple held up a bag of chips…

"I came for some snacks…"

"Ah well…"

Red gave his back to Purple and began to walk down the hall again, Purple made a startled noise…

"Ah! You! You're…WALKING!!"

Red's arms dropped by his sides, his shoulders slumped and he gave a sigh…

"Yeah…so what? Floating can become tedious you know?"

"How can you even THINK of saying that!? It's one of the Tallest's main characteristics!!! FLOAAAAAATING!!"

"Yeah…well…I…just wondered if I could still stand on my own…"

The last sentence was barely audible…and Purple tilted his head to the side, one eye narrowing more than the other, his antennae lowering suspiciously behind his head…

"What's wrong? You're acting strange…you've BEEN acting strange…"

Red turned to face Purple once again, his head was lowered and his antennae were also lowered, sticking themselves to the back of his head, one hand went to rest leisurely on the hand-rail, he walked towards the other Tallest, he stopped when he was mere inches away of Purple, he lifted his head to look at him, his eyes narrowed to slits…

"What exactly…do you mean?"

Purple didn't turn away, didn't flinch at Red's tone, didn't even move, he could tower over the other right then and there because he was still floating…unlike Red…

"You HAVE BEEN acting strange ever since we came back from that ball of dirt which we sent Zim to…"

"…go to sleep…you're beginning to speak nonsense…"

Red turned once again and began to walk, this time faster…and the footsteps were harder…he reached a corner and turned, disappearing among the maze that the Massive was…Purple was left there, munching…he said something…even if he knew that Red couldn't hear him anymore…

"It's HIM, isn't it?"

He went back to the room they shared ever since they were Tallest, lying down on the bed again, the bag of chips left right next to him and fell asleep again, it was amazing how the Tallest could be so different from one another…

Red materialized again inside one of the teleporting tubes that were near an area of the Massive in which prisoners or slaves were kept, he walked between the two walls in which there were cells and more cells, it was silent since the prisoners were kept sedated, so that they wouldn't give any kind of trouble, at the end of the somewhat long corridor, there were a pair of doors that were labelled in Irken, a large tag-like panel that read: Dangerous Prisoners, only the Tallest and the Elite soldiers were admitted inside, Read placed one claw-like finger inside an orifice that was near a control panel, a laser that read his bio-signature ran along it and finally opened the huge doors, Red went inside and they immediately closed behind him, his head lowered a bit, his expression grim, something between rage and suspicion...

There were several lines of tubes full of purplish goo, most of them were empty since they hadn't captured almost no prisoners at all, let alone dangerous ones, the tubes full of goo had something special about them, they were suspended animation containers, not normal goo, something that kept the prisoners without any important biological activity and slowed their functions, exactly like vegetables, there were some rebellious Vortians scattered about, he continued walking, slowly, very slowly, as if wary of what he'd come to see from the beginning…

And then he reached the particular tube he'd been looking for…he lifted his head completely, antennae perking up, his eyes narrowed, he was completely pissed off, so pissed off…at the being in front of him…the being was so small, so small it made him laugh and at the same time disgusted him, filled him with so much rage towards his own race for spawning something so horrible, so hideous…Red being the Tallest, it was only natural that he felt that the creature inside that goo-filled tube was his complete and exact opposite…

He smirked and one cuffed hand went to slam itself against the crystal, Red falling slowly to his knees and his head hanging lifelessly, a shuddery laugh left his mouth before the other hand went up to seal off any other sound that could and would come out…surprisingly the crystal didn't break, and the being inside didn't even stir in its unnatural and induced sleep, he took off the cuff-like bracelets he always wore, letting them fall to the floor, the third finger, always confined inside was now visible again and unfolded, both hands rested upon the crystal now, his head still hung completely motionless…his eyes weren't closed and his expression was now more sad than enraged…more like frustrated…

"Ugh…"

The claws' ends began to dig into the crystal…he finally lifted up his eyes towards the being there, it had its eyes closed, its limbs floated in the goo completely motionless, the antennae also were like that, not even flexed as normally, they just floated there, and the uniform…the Irken uniform seemed to be nothing more than a bad joke…it didn't suit him…it felt as if it was mocking Red and somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered why he wasn't laughing…the being there didn't deserve it, the Irken inside that tube didn't deserve it…Zim didn't deserve it…

And still…that being had almost completely wiped out the whole Irken race…and had destroyed the Earth…and was in the classification of 'Dangerous Prisoners', and if he were free he would do it all over once again, Red knew he would destroy everyone and anyone, anything and everything if told, only to please 'His Tallest', even if they only wanted to get rid of him once and for all…it wasn't fair…not fair at all…

And then a grin began to form in his face…he reached the control panel that was behind the tube, typed some commands and cables began to attach themselves to Zim's Pak, Red smirked and gave the computer the order to give Zim electro-shocks, even if he knew they would disrupt the suspended animation state, he wanted to wake up the Irken and just make him suffer a bit…let him taste just how unfair and egotistical he'd been…

The first discharge only made Zim twitch…the voltage wasn't very high, Red adjusted it to the triple, and this time, Zim's eyes snapped open and his mouth let out a scream…Red laughed, it was a sound that remained deep within his throat, only he could hear it…Zim writhed inside the goo, he was curled up into a tight ball by then, his antennae completely flat against the back of his head, there was still some current remaining inside him, it must have felt like a buzzing fire burning him lightly from the insides and slowly escalating to a revolting and unbearably searing pain, Red couldn't help the obscenely joyous grin that spread through his features…Zim looked like a scared smeet and Red couldn't help but feel the twisted glee that swelled inside him to burst out of him through a manic laughter...

Red moved to stand right in front of Zim, a finger extended and made a 'tap-tap' sound against the crystal, Zim didn't seem to hear it, and it made Red angry, he frowned and slammed his palm against the crystal, wanting Zim's attention…Zim startled, losing its hold on himself and began to float once again, now perfectly awake…he looked towards the source of the sound and he was more than surprised…and scared when he saw Red standing right in front of him, and with such and angry expression…

"M-My Tallest!!"

Red made the computer let a small, continuous charge run through Zim, not enough to burn him from inside out like the previous ones, but enough for him to feel terribly hot and to make the buzz painful, it was obvious that he felt it, he could see Zim's antennae twitching painfully and the grimace in the Irken's face…it made him happy…TRULY happy…

"My Tall-"

"SHUT UP!! Zim…you shouldn't even be alive anymore…not even conscious…and I still can't bring myself to understand just WHERE did we messed up…FUCKED UP SO BADLY!! For you to still be here, insulting me with your sheer presence!!"

Red took a deep breath, he knew he needed to calm down, but it just wouldn't happen, he'd been so stressed ever since he'd seen Zim lying down on Earth, just waiting to be picked up by them in the middle of the completely devastated Earth…Purple hadn't had anything more than an annoyed expression as reaction and let it slide, but he couldn't understand why the simple presence, as far or near as it may be, of the other Irken, made something inside him twist with so much rage that it was a complete miracle when he'd not thrown himself at him and strangled him or ripped him apart back then…

"We're supposed to be Almighty…and still we can't get rid of such a burden as YOU!!"

Zim could feel the unnatural heat running through him, and it made him edgy and fidgety, and he couldn't understand why His Tallest was so angry at him, he couldn't recall doing anything that would anger him in such a manner, no, not even killing the previous Tallest or almost annihilating the whole race…it had all been in order to please Them!!

"Zim…what would you feel if I just tripled the voltage again…and then tore apart every inch of skin you've got…and still…I submerged you into that corrosive goo that surrounds you right now…cut out your fingers and surrounded you with spikes that dug into your tender flesh and let out electrical currents that burned their way inside your innards…completely stripped of all dignity…and then, maybe if I plucked out your antennae and inserted a pair of electrical poles you would SEE just how much damage YOU have caused to US all!!!...but no…I don't think you could even BEGIN to IMAGINE…"

Red had begun to float again when he'd begun to say all that, Zim's eyes had widened with horror at every word that Red spoke to him…the only idea that could come to mind was the numbness that it all made him feel and the loyalty he'd always had to His Tallest…his mouth opened to say something, and when he saw what Red was holding in his hands, a remote control, it closed again…but it was just too stubborn…

"…B-but…My Tallest...why??"

Red sneered, he couldn't stand it anymore…the insolence…THE INSOLENCE!!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!! How DARE you ask WHY!? Can't you SEE!?! Are you THAT DULL!?! Zim!!! You're the COMPLETE DISGRACE of this empire!! You're an ERROR, A TERRIBLE MISTAKE, A COMPLETE FLAW, A STUPID, USELESS, DEFECTIVE, WORTHLESS _**SMEET!!!!"**_

The last word was spat with such disgust and hate, red banged the tube with each word and when the last one came, he pushed the button, the electricity travelled through the cables, making them glow, it was too much, and Zim felt how his brain was racked by the discharge, his mind went numb with the pain while he heard himself scream so loud he could swear the whole Massive was trembling, his skin began to spontaneously burn, lightly, but still the stench of scorched flesh was beginning to rise…it was just a minute, and it all was over…he was submerged into the induced sleep again…his skin a darker shade because of the current and his antennae separated into threads at the ends…Red was standing in front of him, he'd dropped the remote control somewhere, he only remembered hearing it crush against the far wall, he put on the cuff-like bracelets again and sighed, turning slowly and starting for the gates that will guide him out of there…something incredibly bitter sinking inside his squeedly-spooch…

He reclined upon the gates when they closed behind him, sliding down and sitting on the floor, he sighed, he still had the sinking feeling in his spooch…he didn't like it…and couldn't place the reason…

"What…was all that, Red?"

The voice startled him, and he slowly turned to look at the pair of floating feet next to him and the long purple skirt-looking thing, his eyes travelled up and met a pair of narrowed purple ones, looking at him questioningly…and a bit worried…

"…what are you doing here??"

Purple scuffed and leaned closer to Red…

"I followed you, obviously…I don't get you…as I said, you've been acting strange…and I knew it had to do something with Zim…"

He leaned even closer, his face mere inches of Red's…an edge of anger in his voice…

"Tell me already…I'm getting annoyed…"

Red let out a 'heh' and stood up and beginning to walk away, waving a hand dismissively…

"I don't know what you are talking about…you speak nonsense…again…"

Purple gave him a lop-sided smile, watching him walk away, crossing his arms and leaning into the wall...he spoke, careful that Red didn't hear him…

"You keep telling yourself that Red, you keep telling yourself that…"

-.-.-.-.-.-


End file.
